College roundup: Fenske, Dunham lead Navy past Holy Cross, 65-58

NAVY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Hannah Fenske and Taylor Dunham combined for 45 points to boost the Navy women’s basketball team to a 65-58 victory over Holy Cross Thursday night at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass. Navy improves its record to 3-2 in Patriot League play and 13-3 overall with the win.

The Mids had a slow start to the game offensively. Navy fell behind 17-10 through the first 10 minutes of the game. It was just the third time this season and first since the third game of the year in which the Mids trailed at the end of the first quarter of play.

Navy promptly started the second quarter on an 8-0 run to retake the lead at 18-17. Navy would sink 9-14 (64.3%) of its shots in the stanza to build a 32-27 lead at the break.

Fenske sparked the Mids in the second quarter by scoring half of the team’s 22 points. That effort gave her 14 in the first half.

The margin didn’t change much in the third quarter until Navy closed the stanza on a 9-2 run that gave them a 50-37 lead through 30 minutes of play. The Mids would take a lead of as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter, but the Crusaders winnowed that gap down to as few as five points at 61-56. Navy sealed the game with free throws.

Fenske scored a career-high 24 points and Dunham scored 21 points. Fenske also was one of a trio of Mids to snare seven rebounds.

The Mids will be back in Alumni Hall Sunday when they play host to Army at noon. The men’s teams from the two service academies will play Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

MARYLAND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Sophomore Blair Watson of the Terps will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a torn right ACL in practice Wednesday.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed for Blair,” head coach Brenda Frese said. “She was having a really fantastic season and we are going to miss her presence and playmaking ability on the court. We’ll do everything we can to help her in her recovery and support her through the process. This team has tremendous chemistry and will continue to compete at a high level.” Watson will have surgery at a later date. Watson is the Terrapins’ second-leading scorer with 13.8 points through 17 games this season. She is the Big Ten’s most improved scorer and is ranked third in the league in three-point field goal percentage (.441).

NAVY INDOOR TRACK: The Navy men’s and women’s track and field teams return to Wesley A. Brown Field House to host the Navy Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Joining the Midshipmen in the meet will be South Carolina, Wake Forest, Penn, Mount St. Mary’s, and George Mason. Admission to the track and field meet is free.

ARMY ATHLETICS: The U.S. Army has filed a challenge opposing the application of the NHL's newest franchise to register the trademark “Vegas Golden Knights.”

In a claim filed Wednesday with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in suburban Washington, the Army claims it will be damaged if the trademark is registered and says it has acquired exclusive rights to it that predate any rights claimed by the NHL team.

The Army says it has used the Golden Knights nickname since the late 1960s for its parachute team, public relations and recruiting, and claims it owns “common law rights” for the color schemes that combine black and gold and yellow and white.

The challenge by the U.S. Army was first reported by Sportslogos.net.

The filing also says the NHL team's choice of black-and-gold and yellow-and-white color schemes for its uniforms, advertising and marketing adds “to the likelihood of confusion of the public” because the same colors are used on the uniforms worn by West Point's hockey team and the paint scheme on the building where they play their home games, Tate Rink.

The action by the Army is not associated with West Point. Vegas owner Bill Foley is a graduate of academy and a significant donor.